Tool carrying chains for use on coal cutters and the like



Jan. 22, 1957 s. E. PROCTOR TOGL CARRYING CHAINS FOR USE ON COAL CUTTERS AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 13, 1954 4 Sheeis-Sheet 1 INVENTQR (.XW a 22/11157 cMu M Jan. 22, 1957 5, PROCTOR 2,778,236

TOOL CARRYING CHAINS FOR USE ON COAL CUTTERS AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 13, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR/ ,J a? M a w a-/ M j w a 1 Jan. 22, 1957 s. E. PROCTOR 2,778,236

TOOL CARRYING CHAINS FOR USE ON COAL CUTTERS AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 13, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IINVFNTORS ,1" ym y I M M Wm /777Z1/Y/VE)'$ Jan. 22, 1957 s. E. PROCTOR TOOL CARRYING CHAINS FOR USE ON COAL CUTTERS AND THE LIKE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 13, 1954 United States Patent- TOOL CARRYING CHAINS FOR USEON COAL CUTTERS AND THE LIKE Claims priority, application Great Britain September 28, 1953 9 Claims. (Cl. 74-246) This invention comprises improvements in or relating 0 tool carrying chains for use on coal cutters and the like.

The invention relates particularly to tool carryingchains of the. type described for example in British Patent No. 626,080 and U. S. application Serial No. 292,549, filed June 9, 1952, now U. S. Patent 2,733,905, in which the joints between successive links of the chain are formed. by ball and socket members.

One of the difiiculties in making such chains with ball and socket joints lies in the fact that in order to get a strong chain which will satisfactorily withstand wear, it is necessary that the socket should extend around as large an area of the ball as possible. This means that the socket must enclose more than half a hemisphere of the ball, and consequently in order to assemble the parts a portion of the socket must be removable. Chains of this character being subject to severe usage and much vibration, the removable part of the socket must be secured in place not only in such a way as to withstand the stress, but also so that it is not liable to be shifted by vibration and come adrift. The constructions described in the patents before referred to are capable of giving satisfactory service, but it is an object of the present invention to provide improved constructions which are even stronger and more secure.

According to the present invention, in a chain of the character described the removable part of the socket is provided with projections or recesses, and the part of the chain link into which it fits is provided with corresponding recesses or projections, as the case may be, the recesses and projections extending circumferentially of the parts and being interrupted so that assembly is possible by bringing the removable element into place by a movement which is axial in direction and locking it there by a partial rotation to engage the projections and recesses together, means being provided to hold the removable element against rotation after it has been assembled in place. By this means the removable element of the socket is held in place by a form of bayonet joint having interlocking elements which are very strong and the means for holding it against rotation does not have to take the full strain of the natural tendency of the ball member to fall out of the socket.

The invention can be adapted to ball and socket joint cutter chains of any construction and the following is a description by way of example of certain constructions in accordance with the invention.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one link of one form of chain, the socket portion being shown in section;

Figure 2 is a plan of the socket portion of the same;

Figure 3 is a detail of a socket liner;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of a socket portion of another form of link;

Figure 5 is a plan of the same;

Figure 6 is a detail of the end view of a socket liner for the same;

2,778,236 Patented Jan. 22, 1957 Figure: 7 is aside elevation: of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a side elevation of afurther alternative socket;

Figure 9 is a plan of the same;

Figures 10' and 11 are end and side elevations respectively of. a liner for the socket of Figure'9;

Figure 12 is a sectional view of the socket end of a further alternative form of link;

Figure. 13 is an end view. of the socket of Figure 12, without any liner in place, looking in the direction of arrow 13;

Figure 1.4 is. an end view of Figure 12 with the ball member andliner in place; and

Figure 15 is alongitudinalview, partly in section, of part of. a chain having ball and socket joints as shown in' Figures 12 to 14'.

In the form shown in Figure l, the chain is of the general type described in the aforesaid" British Patent No. 626,080 and comprises linkshaving a body portion 21 which consists of two side walls separated from one another andv united at one end by a curved cross-wall 22 which constitutes the outer body of the socket of' the link; At theother end of the link the walls 21 are united by. an: overhanging block 23 of metal which carries the cutter tools, and also carries a downwardly: depending stem. 24 for a ball-member 25 to enter the socket ofthe next, similarly formed, link.

The socket portion 22' of each link according tothe present invention, isbored out at 26 cylindrically from the upper end. but the bore does not extend right through the socket, except in the centre; where it is carried through with a concentric bore of smaller diameter. The ballstem- 24 passes into the socket through the outer end of this bore, which is much larger than the stem and allows freedom of canting movement of the link which carries it relatively to the socket in which the ball works.

In the bore 26 there isa two-part removable liner 27, 28. One part of the liner 28, fits in the bottom of the bore and has a stem-29 which passes through the smaller cylindricalextension thereto. The inside of this liner is hollowed out to fit the underside of the ball 25. Around and above this liner there is an upper section 27 of liner which fits the cylindrical borein the socket and is of sleeve-like formation, being hollowed out within its upper part to fit around the upper hemisphere of the ball 25. This upper liner has a deep groove 1 29 milled across it, the bottom of the groove extending at an angle as shown at 30 to the axis of the liner and the width of the groove being wide enough to permit the passage of the ball-stem 24 freely and to allow the ball-stem to swing through a wide angle in a fore-and-aft direction of the chain. The sides of the groove 129 restrict free swinging of the ballstem laterally.

The exterior of this liner is machined with a projecting rib 31 near its upper edge and the rib is cut away to form two portions each of which extends over nearly one quarter of the periphery of the link.

The interior of the cylindrical bore 26 of the socket is machined with a circumferential groove 32 which is adapted to fit the projections 31 on the liner. The link is machined away fore-and-aft to correspond with the groove 129 across the liner, as shown at 33, 34, Figure 2, sufliciently to permit the liner to be entered into the cylindrical bore of the socket with its projections 31 extending fore-and-aft of the chain and then to be rotated through ninety degrees so that its projections 31 engage the groove 32 which extends around the cylindrical bore. Such rotation of the liner locks it in place. Reverse rotation is then prevented by driving in a cottter-pin 35 so that part of the cotter-pin engages the side of the liner tangentially. The liner 27 is of course grooved to re- 3 ceive the cotter-pin 35. The cotter-pin is held in place by riveting over its end.

With this construction the cotter-pin 35 does not take any of the working stresses in the chain; it merely prevents rotation of the liner and so ensures that the projections 31 on the liner are kept in operative relationship to the groove 32 which holds them in place.

By using ball-stem members which are removable from the links which carry them as shown, it is easy to assemble this chain by first slipping the liners 27 over the stems 24 of the balls, then fitting the stems into the links and securing them by rivets 36 and finally fitting the links into the sockets 28.

In another construction shown in Figures 47, the liner-sockets, instead of being bored out in a direction at right angles to the base of the chain, are bored through horizontally from side to side, but the central portion of the bore is made larger than the outside portions. The outside portions of the bore are notched out at four places, 38, 39, 40, 41, to form a shape something like a stumpy Maltese cross.

Two liners 42, 43 (Figure 7) are used which fit respectively the left and right hand portions of the bore through the socket. Each of these liners is recessed at its end at four places 48, 49, 50, 51 so that it can fit into the Maltese cross portion of the bore and the axial lengths of the liners are such that when they are pushed apart within the bore and so fitted into the notches of the Maltese cross, the two halves are spaced apart in the centre, sufliciently to permit entry of the ball 25. The socket is machined across the top portion with a wide groove 53 which extends foreand-aft of the chain, and is wide enough to permit entry of the ball-stem. This groove is also wide enough to form an opening for the insertion of the socket-liners 42, 43 into the socket. The first half-liner is passed downwardly through the groove into the socket and then moved endwise outwardly until its recesses 48 to 51 inclusive engage between the recesses 38 to 41 of the Maltese cross, which has been referred to above. This leaves sufiicient room for the second half-liner to be passed down into the socket and moved endwise until its recesses engage between the recesses on the Maltese cross on the other side of the chain. The ball-member 25 can then be passed down toward the two liners 42, 43, and the liners can then be brought back toward one another, that is to say towards the centre line of the chain, until they fit one another closely. By then rotating the half liners through one-eighth of a turn their projections can slide behind the inward projections formed on the ends of the socket bore. Finally, reverse rotation of the socket members can be prevented by passing a piece of fiat steel strip 44 through a space which is left behind the outside of the socket-member by making the recess 40 deeper than the others. This strip having been passed through can be bent down into grooves 45 formed in the outer end of each socket member to receive it. The result is that the socket is held in place by the bayonet joint formed by the Maltese cross at each end, and it is prevented from rotating so as to free itself, by the locking strip 44.

In a third construction, which is preferred, and is shown in Figures 8-11 the general disposition of the liners 42, 43 is the same as that in the construction just referred to, but the liners instead of being inserted from the centre of the socket and moved outwards, are inserted from the outside ends thereof. To allow this the bore through the socket in which the liners fit, is carried through, full size, from end to end, and the bore has a circumferential, annular groove 54 near each end to receive four projections 55, 56, 57, 58 standing out from the surface of each liner. The four projections are interrupted by spaces and the outer ends of the bore in the socket, outside the annular groove referred to, are notched out at four places 65, 66, 67, 68 to pass the projections on the liners. Here again, the liners are held in place by a strip of metal 64 which is passed through the socket from side to side through a recess which is machined out right through the socket in line with the recess 68 cut in the ends of thesocket to pass the projections on the liner.

A fourth construction is shown in Figures 12-15 and is adapted to be employed in conjunction with ball-joint chains of the type described in U. S. application Serial No. 292,549, filed June 9, 1952, now U. S. Patent 2,733,905. In this case the stems 70 of the ball-members extend parallel with the length of the chain. According to the present invention, the sockets in the links are bored out endwise in each link and the bottoms 71 of the sockets are made spherical to fit the balls 75, i. e. without liners over this portion of the socket. The outer end of each socket contains a liner 72 which fits around the outer hemisphere of the ball and is bored out to pass the ball-stem 70. At the base of the bore which receives the liner, there is an annular groove 73, and the metal of the bore between this groove and the mouth of the socket is machined away at four portions 76, 77, 73, 79 which are equally spaced around the groove and which are wide enough to leave other portions of metal of similar dimensions between them. The liner 72 has projections 80 which are adapted to fit into the groove 73, and these projections can be entered into place by sliding them through the machined away portions of the bore of the socket. They can then be engaged with the annular slot by rotating the liner through one-eighth of a turn. A cotter-pin 81 or the like is provided for preventing detachment by preventing rotation of the liner. The ball 75 at the right hand end of the ball-carrying link is screwed onto the stem 70.

I claim:

1. In a link of a tool-carrying chain, adjacent links of which are connected by ball and socket joints, a ballreceiving socket comprising at least two parts the inside surfaces of which define the seating for the ball, at least one of the parts being removably mounted in a bore in the link to enable the ball on the near link to be inserted and withdrawn, and wherein the wall of the said bore and the removable socket part are adapted for connection one to the other by an interfitting recess and projection which extend circumferentially of the bore and are interrupted to permit assembly by relative endwise movement followed by relative rotation, means being provided to hold the removable socket-part against rotation after assembly.

2. A tool-carrying chain as claimed in claim 1, wherein each link carries an overhanging tool-carrying block which supports a removable ball-stem, the ball-stem extending in a direction at right angles to the base of the chain, and wherein the socket of each link has an opening facing away from the base of the chain to permit the passage of said ball-stem with its ball into the socket.

3. A tool-carrying chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the bore, into which the removable part of each socket fits, extends in the same direction as the ball-stem and the removable part of the socket surrounds the ball-stem.

4. A tool-carrying chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the bore of each link in which removable parts of each socket fit, extends parallel with the base of the chain, transverse to the length thereof, and each socket consists of two removable liners fitting said bore and having between them a lateral opening for the passage of the ball stem.

5. A chain as claimed in claim 4, wherein each pair of liners are shorter than the transverse bore in which they fit and the liners are entered in their bore by passing them into it laterally through the opening provided for the passage of the ball-stem.

6. A tool-carrying chain as claimed in claim 4, wherein the liners are entered into their bores from the outer ends thereof.

7. A tool-carrying chain as claimed in claim 4, wherein the liners are retained in place in the transverse bores by fiat strips of metal extending parallel to the liners between one side of each liner and a recess in the side of its bore, the said strips being bent over at their ends and the liners recessed to receive the bent over portions. 5

8. A tool-carrying chain as claimed in claim 1, wherein the balls are mounted on stems which extend between the links parallel to the length of the chain, and the removable parts of the sockets surround the ball-stems.

9. A tool-carrying chain as claimed in claim 8, wherein 1) the interfitting projections and recesses are formed at' the inner end of theremovable parts of the sockets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

